All stories end
by featherkitten
Summary: Even the Doctor's. A look at the Doctor though out his- sometimes her- regenerations.


Gallifrey. He had almost lost hope. Looking up at the orange sky he could hardly believe it. He ran across the red fields, the citadel wouldn't be far from here he was fairly certain of that. The Doctor found himself laughing, something he hadn't done enough in this body.

"Slow down," Clara called after him. "I can barely keep up with you." But she says it lightly, not really managing to be mad at the Doctor. How could she be? If it was her in his shoes, she couldn't imagine how excited she would be.

The Doctor did stop but he didn't keep still. He sways his arms impatiently and looks back at Clara. It occurs to her how child like he looks at that moment and she wonders how the Doctor could be so old but still look so young.

"This really isn't fair," Clara says once she catches up. "Your legs are more than twice my length." Really she didn't know how she kept up with him most of the time. The Doctor pays her no heed.

"Have I ever told you about Gallifrey? The red fields capped with snow and the endless mountains. Oh, the leaves on the trees are a bright silver and rocks that aren't grey. Red, brown, purple and gold but not grey." His eyes are shining with tears and he grabs Clara's hand. "Come on! The citadel isn't far from here."

The Doctor doesn't tend to stay somewhere forever. Not even on Gallifrey as Clara finds out.

"Where are we going?" she asks. She isn't sure if she had expected to see him again so soon after he dropped her off home. Gallifrey was amazing but she hadn't been able to stay, had needed to go back home. She knows that it could have been ages for him though. More than ages.

"To visit some old friends," the Doctor says.

Clara is burning with questions. "How long since you last saw them?" is what she asks first.

"Too long." The explanation brings up more questions than it answers. He is using Gallifreyan technology to visit Rose who he had to leave stranded in a parallel universe with his meta-crisis clone that's half Donna Noble. "Its a very long story and we have someone to pick up first."

"Who?"

"My wife."

Things don't go as planned when they get to Pete's World but then things rarely ever go as planned for the Doctor. The soldiers pointing guns at them, really wasn't the welcome he was hoping for but it would have to do.

"Careful." His hands are up. "I'm not armed but my wife is. And trust me, you'd hate to get on her bad side."

"Doctor?" The Doctor's mouth hung open at the sound of that voice. After all these centuries he'd recognize it anywhere.

"Rose." Her name leaves his mouth in barely a whisper. Clara peers over the soldiers to see her. Rose from-the-very-long-story-the-Doctor-told Clara told the soldiers to stand down. She's older than the Doctor said she was.

"He can help." She smiles. "He's the Doctor. Now what's this about a wife?" As if she had been waiting for those very words, River chooses that moment to make her appearance. Why the Doctor wanted his wife and his ex in the same universe together is beyond Clara.

"Where is he?" the Doctor asks as Rose leads them away. "My clone," he adds to clarify.

"Oh, two Doctors," River replies. "The mind races."

"He's here too," Rose says. "We both work for Torchwood now." She stops so suddenly that the Doctor nearly walks into her. "Doctor, its been ten years. Why are you here now?"

"I was hoping that I'd have gotten here sooner," he says sadly. "I missed you. I wanted to know that you were okay." He fears that she'll say that she isn't but she doesn't. She merely leads them to the meta-crisis Doctor and a very excited scientist that reminds the Doctor of Malcolm. He wonders is Malcolm exists in this universe or if Lady Christina does. What would they be doing right now?

"He's John now," Rose says. "John Smith. That's his official name anyway. We had to recreate him a new identity."

After the crisis being solved, the Doctor decides its time to leave. He says goodbye to Pete and Jackie Tyler first, he even meets little Tony.

"The Doctor?" Tony asks. "I've heard stories about you."

Rose and Clara are watching him from a distance. "I thought that he had come back for me. When I saw the TARDIS I just thought... he's happy now isn't he?"

Clara nods. "Yes. I hope you are too."

Before they went, the Doctor tells the meta-crisis Doctor "You might want to look for a Pond family." Along with River and Clara he leaves and its several regenerations later when he finds out if the other Doctor ever finds Pete's world's version of Melody Pond.

* * *

Clara leaves eventually and he's glad that it is by her own terms and not by her death.

"This doesn't have to be goodbye forever," she says. "Come to dinner one day. Bring River along." Two regenerations later he does just that knowing full well that he shouldn't have left it off for so long.

His next regenerations aren't all male. The first time the Doctor is a woman she is in her forties with very bright red hair just like Amy's. The TARDIS seems to know that she needs River at that moment.

The first thing the Doctor says to her wife is "Finally ginger." They both laugh. No matter what regeneration, River loves him.

* * *

The Doctor visits Donna and watches her from a distance.

"You shouldn't have taken her memories," River says. "She was willing to die to keep who she had become."

"I know," the Doctor says sadly. They don't stay long.

* * *

The Doctor visits Alfie Owens but ends up too far into the future.

"Come on Stormy," a girl named Anwen Williams says teasingly and the Doctor hopes that Alfie someday forgives him for letting the Stormageddon thing slip. But he knows that it won't be someday soon. At least not for Alfie, maybe it would have blown over by the next time the Doctor came to visit.

* * *

Sarah Jane is surprised but happy when the Doctor comes to call on her. Part of her surprise is because the Doctor is a woman.

The Doctor takes Sarah Jane and her kids on an adventure, which turns into several adventures, a misunderstanding and Skye losing her shoe. But all in all it turned out pretty well.

* * *

She finds Jack and apologizes. She hadn't properly apologized the last time, just hooked Jack up with Alonso. "Miracle Day, 456. I should have been there."

"Yeah, you should have." The bitterness of Jack's tone cuts though her like ice but she knows that he has every right to feel that way. Its a long time for both of them before they see each other again.

* * *

He -often she- travels back and forth from Pete's world looking up his old companions, curious at what types of lives they live without ever having meeting him/her but wary enough to keep a distance.

While he's traveling in his own universe, Jenny finds him. He lost her too many regenerations ago but that doesn't make him any less glad to see her.

He went to visit Susan, at first without River or Jenny and later with them. They visit an older Amy and Rory one day. They meet Anthony who doesn't know who any of them are yet. River is so sorry that her brother is going to have to break the news of Amy and Rory's death to Brian one day but at least she and the Doctor's 11th self will be there as well.

Eventually even the Doctor retires. On his last regeneration he notices that he has an older version of his fourth self's face. Its not impossible for Time Lords to reuse faces but its extremely rare. His carving for jelly babies is back as well.

He becomes the Caretaker and when he meets Osgood, he gives her his scarf.

"Perhaps you were me or I was you," he tells his 11th self. "Perhaps it doesn't really matter."

When his time comes, the Doctor is at peace. He leaves Jenny his TARDIS and gets his mind uploaded to the Library.

She's as lovely as ever, his River. Her back is turned to him but he only needs to say one thing to get her attention. "Honey, I'm home." He may not be his 11th self anymore but the words still felt right to say.

She turns around slowly hardly believing her eyes. "Hello sweetie." Brushing tears away she adds "What time do you call this?"

* * *

Wikipedia was useful in helping describe Gallifrey.


End file.
